Teen pleads guilty to second-degree murder in stabbing

The 16-year-old Wheaton teenager charged with assaulting and fatally stabbing an Aspen Hill man in March pleaded guilty Aug. 19 to second-degree murder, the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office reported.

As part of the plea bargain, Alvin Rey Valdez will serve no more than 15 years in prison and other charges against him, conspiracy to commit murder and carrying a deadly weapon, were dropped, said Seth Zucker, a spokesman for the State's Attorney's Office.

Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 3. Valdez and Jose Romero, both of the 3500 block of Harrell Street, were charged in March with assaulting and stabbing 20-year-old Henry Ortiz, police said. The incident occurred March 11 and Ortiz died a week later, county police said.

Valdez and Romero were members of the gang Lil R, while the victim was a member of MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, said Lt. Paul Starks, county police spokesman.

Ortiz, who lived nearby, was walking from Hewitt Avenue across Georgia Avenue to a bus stop on the west side when he exchanged hand gestures meant to symbolize gang signs with two men as they approached and they began fighting behind the bus shelter, police said. The three men fell down an embankment behind the shelter.

At one point during the assault, Valdez took out a knife and stabbed Ortiz multiple times, police said. The assailants ran southwest into the woods after the incident.

A man who witnessed the attack said Ortiz was bleeding heavily from his chest and had a wooden-handled knife in his hands, according to the court charging documents.

The court documents also state there had been recent "quarrels" between the Lil R gang and MS-13.

Romero, who was 14 years old at the time of the incident, was indicted as an adult on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder on March 26. Zucker said his case remains active in Montgomery County Circuit Court. Attempts to find Romero's attorney have been unsuccessful.